References – Page 26 – TP Javeton WebNet

The resume in brief

A resume is a one- to two-page document summarizing your career objectives, professional experiences and achievements, as well as your educational background. The resume heading should contain your name, address and contact information. The resume body should be broken into the following sections: career objective, profile and/or summary, professional experience, achievements, scholastics, and references.

Your career objective should be brief, up to two sentences, and it should give your potential employers an idea of how you wish to move forward in your professional life. A concise profile or summary should discuss who you are and how your skills and experience best apply to the job you are interested in. The summary, as well as other parts of your resume, should not contain personal information that discloses ethnicity, sexual orientation, marital status, age, living situations or any other personal information that is not directly related to your career.

It’s your professional representative

Personal profile and/or summary should only contain a few well-written sentences that convey what you can bring to the table in terms of the specific job. Use this section to attract an employer’s attention, but don’t go overboard by trying to be too creative; keep it professional. Your experience listing should include information on one to five jobs you’ve held, starting with your current or last job, and listing previous positions in chronological order.

The listing should include a date range of your employment, name of the companies or person(s) you have worked for, and the city and state where a referenced place of employment is located (full address of employment is not necessary). List your title and your main responsibilities, with emphasis on duties that are applicable to the type of work you are seeking.

Your education should include college, graduate and post-graduate work, as well as any courses or professional certifications that are relevant to your career development. Achievements, volunteer positions, publications and interests should only be listed if they apply to your professional work experience. References should be listed if requested; best practices suggest not to list generic statements about references being available upon request as this is understood.

Attention to detail will serve you well

In the competitive, internet-driven world of job searches, your resume represents you to potential employers; and it serves as your tool to attract attention, get the interview and/or get a job. A great resume will make you stand out from other candidates by showcasing your aptitudes. Think of your resume as your sales pitch, since you need to sell yourself in the best possible way. Invest some time and research into developing your resume.

You will want to make sure that your resume is error free, so double check your grammar and spelling, make sure that all company and school names and cities are spelled correctly. A resume containing errors, no matter how minimal, will give your potential employer the impression that you lack attention to detail, that you don’t take time to double check your work, and that you are a poor communicator.

Additionally, make sure that your resume is formatted well. Stick to basic fonts, like Arial and Times New Roman; and keep the font size and color standard. Do not use large fonts or multi-colors in your resume! And don’t go overboard with bold, italicized, or large-cap text. Keep your format consistent and make sure that the resume looks great when viewed online as well as in hard copy print.

In short, a good one gets the job done

Keep your resume to one or two pages, as any additional pages could give an impression that you either don’t know how to concisely summarize your education and experience, or that you are listing unnecessary information for the sake of taking up space. If you’ve never written a resume before, reference books, Internet resources and assistance from a professional resume writing service are all available and can easily be accessed.

A well-written resume can make the difference between being stuck at your current job and getting an interview to land the job of your dreams, or as close to it as you can get depending on what your dream job is.

Self-analysis

Prior to looking for that specific job which would be most suitable for you, it is important to learn the most effective way to market your talents; because effectively marketing your talents will help you gauge the possibility of landing the job you really want. First and foremost, skills and interests should be personally evaluated, and Jotting down a list would definitely be the best way to define and evaluate your capabilities.

Secondly, you should know your limitations since there are jobs that may be too demanding and therefore might not work for you; and on the other hand, some jobs may not require the level and/or multiplicity of skills you possess and, as such, would render you overly qualified for those jobs.

Thirdly, consider the importance of planning, which is an integral part of the job scouting process. For example, it is important to plan your time in a manner that supports spontaneity; whereas as soon as there is an inner instinct which indicates to you that you’re ready, willing and able (another way of saying qualified), you will be able to act.

Be the early bird

Once this has been done, go to companies and prospective employers early in the morning. This will give them a good impression of you; but it will help you, as the applicant, to give yourself enough time to complete the application process if everything else goes well. Remember this old adage, “the early bird catches the worm.”

Of course it is already common knowledge that the very first thing which should be done when looking for a job is to prepare an impressive resume; and naturally, the resume type and quality often depend on the type of job being applied for. However, there are times when certain employers require curriculum vitae and even a cover letter or “letter of intent.” But despite the resume type, you must keep in mind that every professional job you apply for expects to receive a well written resume.

After preparing the documents needed for application, the next thing which should follow is finding vacancies for new hires. Searching/using the Internet will be very helpful for this particular task. There are sites like HotJobs, America’s Job Bank, and Monster that provide this type of assistance, as well as resources and convenience for people to look for jobs.

Where and how to look

Where else to look for job openings? – The initial step is to look at local newspapers because these sources can provide information (found in the Classified Ads section) as well as lists of wanted personnel and employment opportunities. Applying at several companies initially in a local area can save an applicant even more time and money. If it so happens however, that a job was found late in the day, it is important to call with inquiries right away because it is never a good idea to let a day pass when opportunity knocks.

How to look for jobs that are not announced? – Sometimes companies and private employers do not actually advertise their job openings. Under such circumstances the best course of action an applicant can take might be to weigh the possibility of being hired by a certain company simply by submitting an application form or resume. One way to go about scouting out these kinds of jobs is to start looking personally; tell everyone about your job scouting and what you expect to find.

Relatives and previous offices or company co-workers will be able to provide hints on job vacancies in their current companies. Professors or teachers will also be helpful in recommending schools and institutions that are now looking for new instructors. These folks might not have any vacant positions with their company in mind, but they quite possibly may know someone who knows where a new employee might needed. That’s what others call networking.

Often times the Yellow Pages could serve the important purpose of providing information on how and where to call during your search for a job. This source gives an accurate list of companies and prospective employers in a chosen area. In addition, visiting the library is also a tool than can be useful when looking for a job. There are libraries that make available, a list of local employers; just asks the librarian for more information.

Direct contact

Contact these employers personally, even if they did not advertise any vacant positions with their companies. Lastly, be observant of signs posted on doors and windows of shops and stalls on your journeys to and from daily destinations. If luck prevails, you might be able to walk in and ask for information about the job and how to apply.

After submitting application forms and resumes to the respective companies, keep track of the progress by creating a chart on which you can jot down the name of the specific companies, application dates and other important information submitted.